88 Is a Geranium a P elarg07iiiivt ? 



of my recollection, it is about ten years ago since I first observed the 

 change in one of the English catalogues. That may not, however, have 

 been the first of it, as he intimates that the term pelargojiium has been in 

 use for all the class for the last fifty years. Surely he does not mean to tell 

 us that he has used that name for the scented zonale and variegated class 

 for the last fifty years. If he has, he has not much reason to be flattered 

 by the effects of his example ; for, if a vote could be taken to-morrow, he 

 would find that neither here nor in England has one gardener in a hundred 

 followed his lead. 



Mr. Menard asks, " Is it affectation to call things by their proper names ? " 

 To make his question pertinent and fair, he should first have proved, which 

 he has not, that pelargonium is the " proper " name for all the divisions of 

 this class. But, assuming that it is botanically correct, there is such a thing 

 as putting the science so much on, that it becomes affectation. I remember 

 the foreman of a garden in which I once worked would never allow his 

 dignity to be so lowered as to designate any plant by its popular name. 

 The humble daisy with him was always the Bellis perennis ; the pansy, the 

 Viola tricolor ; and on one occasion he nearly frightened a new boy out of 

 his wits by ordering him in an authoritative tone to dig a basketful of 

 Solatium tuberosum. The man meant potatoes ; but he was a born snob. 



The popular name, by universal consent, to this class of plants, is un- 

 questionably geranium ; and any attempt at change, whether botanically 

 right or not, would lead us into confusion inextricable. For my part, I am 

 content to call a shovel a shovel, and a spade a spade : but if any one, by 

 a course of scientific investigation, fancies that he has made the discovery 

 that it is a mistake, and that they are both spades, I will not question his 

 right of opinion ; but I am not yet prepared to bow acquiescence. 



In my article in the March number, I said that the English nursery-men 

 appeared to be about equally divided on this question. In this I find I was 

 mistaken : the innovators seem to be in a very small minority. In five 

 catalogues now before me, representing some of the most extensive floral 

 establishments in England, one only has yet discovered that the zonale 

 scented and variegated geraniums are pelargoniums. All the others class 

 them as they have been classed for the past half-century. But this one, 

 Mr, William Bules, is " under the distinguished patronage of her Majesty 



